Plenty of people wish to become devout, but no one wishes to be humble.
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A translation of one of La Rochefoucauld's maxims, published posthumously in 1693. In the original: "Force gens veulent ?tre dévots, mais personne ne veut ?tre humble.".Joseph Addison
» Joseph Addison - all quotes »
Like the devout theologian seeing the Devil lurking everywhere, Menninger, the devout Freudian, sees aggression.
Thomas Szasz
Plenty of kind, decent, caring people have no religious beliefs, and they act out of the goodness of their hearts. Conversely, plenty of people who profess to be religious, even those who worship regularly, show no particular interest in the world beyond themselves.
John Danforth
The most pious of people is the one who fulfills his religious precepts, and the most devout of the people is the one who avoids illegitimate acts.
Hasan al-Askari
I thank you, sincerely, for your letter of the 19th instant, and for the Almanac it contained. No body wishes more than I do, to see such proofs as you exhibit, that nature has given to our black brethren talents equal to those of the other colors of men ; and that the appearance of the want of them, is owing merely to the degraded condition of their existence, both in Africa and America. I can add with truth, that no body wishes more ardently to see a good system commenced, for raising the condition, both of their body and mind, to what it ought to be, as far as the imbecility of their present existence, and other circumstances, which cannot be neglected, will admit.
I have taken the liberty of sending your Almanac to Monsieur de Condozett, Secretary of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, and Member of the Philanthropic Society, because I considered it as a document, to which your whole color had a right for their justification, against the doubts which have been entertained of them.
I am with great esteem, Sir, Your most obedient Humble Servant…Benjamin Banneker
People here argue about religion interminably, but it appears that they are competing at the same time to see who can be the least devout.
Charles de Montesquieu
Addison, Joseph
Addleshaw, Percy
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